Photos: June 18 Election Protests in Tehran: The Faces
Hundreds of thousands of people marched in the streets of Tehran again on Thursday June 18 to protest the outcome of the June 12 Iran's presidential election. Following photos show some of the faces of the people who took part in this march across the capital city. -Syma Sayyah, Tehran - 6/19/09
Iranian views: Students of English
Two young people from Iran share their thoughts about growing up, learning English and discovering the world. -BBC - 6/12/09
Iran: Rap, blogs and the political mix
Sixteen years after visiting Iran to report for BBC's Panorama, and just as President Barack Obama makes overtures to the Islamic world, Jane Corbin returned on the eve of presidential elections. -BBC - 6/8/09
Kerman home to world's lone Zoroastrian anthropology museum
The City of Kerman in central south of Iran is home to the lone anthropology museum of the world's Zoroastrians. The museum is located at the fire temple of the city. - 6/5/09
Iran: 90% of love marriages end in divorce
A new research conducted by Tehran Shahid Beheshti University showed that nearly 90% of love marriages end in divorce in the country. - 5/25/09
Iran: Serial Killer Inspired by Agatha Christie
Iranian police arrest the country's first suspected female serial killer who says patterned crimes on the stories of English crime novelist Agatha Christie. - 5/25/09
Photos: Mass Family Walk in Tabriz, Iran
People in the provincial city of Tabriz participated in a mass family walk on Friday May 22nd. -Photos by Navid Jadidoleslam, ISNA - 5/22/09
California Festival Celebrates Silk Road in Music, Dance
The music and dance of Iran, Afghanistan, China, and other stops along the ancient trade route known as the Silk Road were recently on display in California. The Festival of the Silk Road brought together immigrants and others to celebrate the cultures of the Eurasian trade route. - 5/20/09
Iran: 80% of petitions for divorce filed by women
A new research conducted by Shahid Beheshti University showed that 80% of petitions for divorce were filed by women in the first five years of marriage. -MNA - 5/17/09
Cinema, Jigar and Ice cream
Last week Paul was away for a week and my friends Ali, Faroukh, and Afsaneh made sure that I did not feel lonely and took me out a few times. We do not usually go out to the cinema and often see the Iranian feature films when they come out on DVD which is quite fine with me, the only problem is that most of them do not have subtitles and unfortunately Paul's Persian is quite rudimentary! -Syma Sayyah, Tehran - 5/15/09
Recreating virginity in Iran
Many women in Iran opt for hymen repair to satisfy a culture that insists on bridal virginity. Now they have a cleric's backing -Guardian - 5/13/09
Iranian nomads' literacy rate up by 15%
Director of nomadic department of State Ministry of Education here on Saturday said that there has been a 15.5% increase in the nomads' literacy rate over the past ten years. Abassi also announced that 33% of Iranian nomadic families own cell phone. - 5/10/09
Tehran ranks first in divorce rate in Iran
Tehran Province has the highest number of divorces in the country, deputy head of Population Studies & Research Center in Asia and the Pacific said here Saturday. Based on official figures, 22.3% of Tehrani marriages ended in divorce in 1385 (March 2006-March 2007) Shahla Kazemipour said. - 5/9/09
Finding Bibi: Filmmaker's Fans Make Their Voices Heard
Iranian-American documentary filmmaker Bita Haidarian, whose work has been described as "the best hope for film and politics in Australia," launched a groundbreaking organization in March, and her democratic approach is already bearing fruit. - 5/4/09
Photos: Iranian Workers
In many countries, May Day is synonymous with International Workers' Day, or Labour Day, which celebrates the social and economic achievements of the labour movement. May Day commonly sees organized street demonstrations and street marches by millions of working people and their labour unions throughout most of the countries of the world. -Photos by Sajad Avarand, ISNA - 5/1/09
Photos: Graduation ceremony for policewomen in Tehran, Iran
Following photos are from the graduation ceremonies of policewomen in the capital city of Tehran. These cadets, trained and educated in the "Naja" training center for policewomen, were the 6th group of women to complete the program. -Photos by Hamid Forootan, ISNA - 4/30/09
Widows Outnumber Widowers 6 to 1 in Iran
Number of widows six times as much as widowers in Iran, deputy head of Population Studies & Research Center in Asia and the Pacific said here on Tuesday. - 4/28/09
Photos: Tractor Race in village of Darreh-Bid, Isfahan
The photos presented here are from a skillful tractor riding race held in the village of Darreh Bid in the province of Isfahan, Iran. -Photos by Gholam Hossein Baharloo, ISNA - 4/25/09
Iran: Divorce rate increases for over 60 group
There were a number of 110,510 divorces recorded in 1387 (ended March 20, 2009), from which 3,888 were men and 1,212 women over the age of sixty. - 4/22/09
Nowruz: The Iranian New Year has truly gone GLOBAL
By all accounts the number of special events commemorating Nowruz has proliferated worldwide in the past decade. Credit, by and large, +goes to the persistent 75 million Iranians in Iran and their transplanted counterparts now residing in every corner of the world, who have persevered to preserve their cultural heritage by adhering to their New Year's rituals. -Davood N. Rahni - 4/18/09
Iran tops world in birth control
Reports by the UN show birth control policies in Iran to be effective with the country topping the list of greatest fertility decreases. - 4/17/09
Iran rounds up 'porn site bosses'
In its biggest crackdown of pornographic web sites, Iran has arrested 26 men and women on a wide array of charges from producing adult and child porn content to mocking Islamic beliefs. -BBC - 4/16/09
Mango Sells Veiled Iranian Shoppers Penelope Cruz’s T-Shirts
Mango, the Spanish clothing brand whose ads feature Penelope Cruz, says its jeans and T-shirts are a hit with veiled shoppers at a new store in Iran, where laws forbid women from wearing revealing clothes in public. -Bloomberg - 4/16/09
Talk examines sex changes in Iran
Faegheh Shirazi, an associate professor in the department of Middle Eastern studies, delivered a lecture called “Transexuality: Sex Change Operations and its Legalization by the Islamic Republic of Iran” on Friday in Garrison Hall. The lecture detailed the history of a procedure rarely associated with Iran. -Daily Texan - 4/14/09
Prisoners' average age 28 in Iran
The age of prisoners in Iran ranged from 24 to 32 with an average of 28, cultural-training director of State Prison Organization said in Tehran on Saturday. A number of 140,000 inmates are in jails around the country, mostly convicted for drug-related crimes - 4/12/09
Norouz News Reflections - Iranians in Armenia, USA, UK, Iran, Dubai, Seoul, and Canada
What is not well known is that the Bay Area, and particularly Santa Clara County, has one of the nation’s largest Iranian-American communities — the third-largest population of Farsi speakers among the nation’s 3,100 counties, U.S. Census Bureau data shows. - 4/10/09
Tajik Jewish Community Gets New Synagogue
The small Jewish community in the Tajik capital, Dushanbe, has a special reason to celebrate during the spring holiday of Passover, which begins on April 8. After nearly a year without a place of worship, the congregation has received a new building to use as a synagogue. -RFE - 4/10/09
Iranians welcome museums during Norouz
Iran's museums has a 25 percent increase in number of visitors during the first ten days of the Norouz holiday, Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Organization (CHTHO) official Mohammad Hossein Farahani announced. -MNA - 4/4/09
Photos: Tehran Residents Mark Sizdehbedar by spending a day outdoors
People in Iran headed outdoors on April 2nd to mark Sizdehbedar, the 13th day of Persian New Year. Following people show Tehran residents spending time in Laleh and Taleghani parks. - 4/3/09
Photos: People across Iran celebrate Sizdahbedar, the festival of nature
People across Iran celebrated Sizdah-Bedar, the traditional Persian festival of nature, which is also a finale to the Nowruz celebrations, by spending time outdoor. Sizdah-Bedar is an ancient Iranian nature festival dating back to at least 4,000 years ago and marks the last day of Iranian New Year festivity - 4/3/09
Iranians outdoors to mark Sizdehbedar
Iranian families spend today (Thursday 13t of Farvardin - 1st month of the year) outdoors to celebrate Sizdehbedar, that is the last day of the New Year break. - 4/2/09
Queer Film Festival doco highlights Iranian transsexuals
BEING an unmarried woman at the age of 25 was enough to attract the wrath of filmmaker Tanaz Eshaghian's traditional Iranian family. -Courier Mail - 4/2/09
Chador Making Comeback as Fashion Item
I stop and take a look at a sign in a shop window on Valiasr Square that reads, "National chadors, made from Japanese black silk, 32,000 tomans each (about 32 US dollars)." A woman wearing a long, dark dress and a tightly tied headscarf tells me why she is interested in buying one. "I want it for parties during Norouz time. It is smart and it gives you more mobility," she said -Raha Izadi, Tehran - 3/29/09
Iranian beggar was a real-life slumdog millionaire
A STREET beggar found dead in his squalid home was revealed to be a real-life slumdog millionaire who left behind a vast fortune. Mr Habibian is not Iran's first wealthy beggar. -Guardian - 3/28/09
China - Xinjiang Uyghur 2009 Noruz festival dance
Nuoruz Festival is a traditional holiday with a long history. In Xinjiang, all national minority believe in Islam celebrate the festival. The word came from Iranian, means “Spring Water“, equating to vernal equinox (4th solar term). - 3/26/09
Mountain in Iran Named for American Nurse
Last year, Davar Ardalan and other family members in the United States learned that a mountain and surrounding forest near the city of Isfahan has been named Mount Helen in honor of Helen Jeffreys Bakhtiar for her pioneering work in public health with the Point Four program in some of Iran's most isolated villages. -Howard Cincotta, America.gov - 3/24/09
Sal-e No Mobarak!
There are so many instances of misery in the world that a moment of joy can bless just about any old and venerable tradition around which we bring together those near and dear to us, to tell them how much we love them, and with what ever accent we hear it, we welcome the rhapsodic sound of Sal e No Mobarak. -Golbarg Bashi and Hamid Dabashi - 3/23/09
Photos: Imam Khomeini's wife, Khadije Saghafi, laid to rest
Supreme Leader of Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei on Sunday led special Prayer the deceased wife of the father of Islamic Revolution and founder of the Islamic Republic the late Imam Khomeini. Mrs. Khadije Saghafi passed away in Tehran Saturday morning after a long period of illness. - 3/22/09
From Azerbaijan To India, Spring Festival Norouz Begins
Across much of the non-Arab Muslim world, people are celebrating Norouz, the festival that marks the arrival of spring and the beginning of the new year. - 3/21/09
California feast for Persian New Year
From saffron-scented rice to rosewater-laden desserts, the culinary aromas of Nowruz, the 13-day Persian New Year celebration that began on Friday, evoke distinctive memories for members of the Bay Area's Iranian community. -San Francisco Chronicle - 3/21/09
Nowruz: A New Day for Humanity
In recent centuries, as the vast Iranian Empire gave way to the modern country of Iran, this ancient festival of spring has spread its branches over the neighboring countries, and increasingly all over the world. It still invites us to look beyond human time and history at nature itself as it blossoms in beautiful new colors in search of secrets of renewal and rejuvenation. -Ahmad Karimi-Hakkak - 3/20/09
Happy Nowruz and New Year
The oldest Iranian tradition, Nowruz recalls the cosmological and mythological times of Iran. According to the ancient myths, its founder is a deputy of Ahura Mazda (Almighty God) on earth, a position that imparts to him and the celebration a spiritual dimension and a particular sense of secular authority. - 3/20/09
Tehran Puts Urban Spin On Rural Rite of Spring
The final rush before the new year showed how Iran's increasingly urban culture is modifying rural traditions. With more than 70 percent of 68 million Iranians living in cities and the rest being closely connected to them, the way time and money is spent during Nowruz -- a time of family gatherings involving many preparations -- is changing. -Thomas Erdbrink, Washington Post - 3/20/09
Norouz, ca 1340's (early 1960's)
I was born in Dezashib-Shemiran and grew up in Evin. Many of us then, forty or so years ago, looked forward to the prospect of getting new clothing as a prelude to Norouz visiting exchanges and Eidi! -Davood N. Rahni - 3/19/09
Crime-Control Cameras Appear in Tehran
Police authorities have started installing closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras throughout the Iranian capital to lower crime rates. -FNA - 3/19/09
Photos: Chahar Shanbeh Suri Celebrations in Tehran
The ancient Iranians celebrated the last 10 days of the year in their annual obligation feast of all souls, Hamaspathmaedaya (Farvardigan or popularly Forodigan). They believed Foruhars, the guardian angles for humans and also the spirits of dead would come back for reunion. These spirits were entertained as honored guests in their old homes, and were bidden a formal ritual farewell at the dawn of the New Year. - 3/18/09
Iranians Celebrate Chahar-Shanbeh Soori Festival
Tonight the Iranian people will celebrate the ancient festival of fire or Chahar-Shanbeh Soori in all Iranian cities. Chahar-Shanbeh Soori, literally means 'Red Wednesday', is an ancient festival, dating back to 4000 years ago since the early Zoroastrian era, which is still celebrated the night before the last Wednesday of the year. - 3/17/09
Haji Firuz Made My Day!
When I arrived at International Food Bazaar, the first thing that welcomed me was the sight of a Haji Firuz who was greeting the shoppers right at the entrance! That really cheered me up. I had seen this Haji Firuz last year too. Unlike the usual Haji Firuzes who are male and who darken their face, this one is a woman with a rather bright skin color! -Ali Moayedian - 3/17/09
Photos: Getting a "Clean" start for Norouz!
Iranians are getting ready for Norouz, the Persian New Year (March 20, 2009). As part of the preparations to welcome Norouz, the houses are dusted off and the (Peraian) rugs are washed to get a "clean" start! The following photos by Mehdi Ghasemi show the carpet washing that is going on in Tehran. -ISNA - 3/17/09
Listening to the young Iranians...
His voice still plays in my head, "oon vare abiha tatiland." Meaning the people living in the other side of the ocean are completely clueless. This is the voice of 29-years-old Iranian entrepreneur, Mohammad Reza who was visiting Dubai for business in first week of March while I was working on a documentary about the Iranians residing in Dubai. -Mahtab Farid - 3/16/09
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